The selling of USA Today is one of the greatest stories of the '80s. Put yourself in the salesman's shoes: How would you sell a highly skeptical board of directors on buying the idea that a national newspaper would be successful? How would you sell national advertisers on the profitability of their ads when you haven't the slightest idea how many people read your publication? How would you go about convincing airline executives, hotel managers and car rental companies to by 240,000 copies of your newspaper every single day to give away to their customers? How do you convince 400,000 people walking USA's sidewalks to drop 50 cents into vending machines to get your newspaper every day of the week? How would you get your parent company to accept five straight years of losses totaling more than $450 million and on top of that to consider you one of the greatest heroes the company has ever produced (and pay you a yearly salary of over $1.3 million)? The answers to all the questions above are salesmanship, showmanship and sweatmanship.

A HUMBLING EXPERIENCE

USA Today was the brainchild of Allen H. Neuharth, son of a South Dakota farmer. Born in a small town where dreams grow bigger and get better, he started delivering newspapers at age 11, worked part time in the composing room at age 13 and then became editor of his high-school newspaper. After serving a three year term in World War II, Al got his basic training in journalism and then launched his first newspaper at age 28. Assuming that sparsely populated South Dakota would snap up a weekly newspaper covering sports events throughout the state, Neuharth, with little market research and business know-how, but with superior selling skills, managed to raise $50,000 to finance just such a venture.

On November 21, 1952 Neuharth printed and distributed the premier issue of SoDak Sports. Sports enthusiasts across the state loved the peach colored newspaper that sold for a dime. While circulation figures mushroomed to about 18,000 copies per week, advertisers were hard to get. The main advertising competition, a new medium called television, ate into SoDak Sports' profits, and, unable to compete, the weekly was forced to fold in the summer of 1954.

Like many superachievers, Al Neuharth soon learned to transform disappointments into ambition. Having lost his father when he was only two years old, he seemingly had grown immune to the sometimes devastating effects of an unexpected loss. During the toughest times of getting USA Today off the ground, Neuharth recalled his experiences with SoDak Sports saying, "A failure is much better early in life than late in life." Clearly he felt that his SoDak Sports experience had been a blessing. Peter Prichard, the author of The Making of McPaper, a chronicle of the creation of a unique newspaper concept published by Andrews, McMeel & Parker, Kansas City, wrote about Neuharth's first financial disaster. "...buried in the ashes of failure were the seeds of a much bigger idea."

UP THE CORPORATE LADDER

After the bankruptcy sale of SoDak Sports, entrepreneur/salesman Neuharth went back to basics. He took a job as a newspaper reporter at the Miami Herald and quick promotions followed. In 1963, he received an attractive offer from Gannett Newspapers: General Manager of the Rochester, New York newspapers. Neuharth did so well that in 1973 he became chief executive. Five years later, when the company broke the $1 billion sales barrier, he was named chairman of Gannett Newspapers. Most people in similar positions would have viewed this promotion as the highest rung on the ladder to corporate and personal success - a lofty position where chairmen crisscross the country in company jets and nap in limousines. However, Neuharth considered the top spot merely as a platform for building and shaping a history-making project: the creation of a national newspaper.

PLANTING THE SEED

In November 1979, Neuharth had sold his board of directors on investing $1.2 million to investigate the business realities of his bold idea. Tom Curley, one of the four Gannett executives who conducted the original research told PERSONAL SELLING POWER, "Al wanted to give the United States a national newspaper. It was very clear in his mind what he wanted to do."

The research team tried to find the answers to four basic questions: 1. Can we produce a national newspaper? 2. Can it be distributed and sold nationally? 3. Can we design it so it will grab readers around the country in sufficient numbers to make it worthwhile? 4. Can we get enough advertising support?

Obviously Neuharth was not willing to repeat his experience with SoDak Sports and launch a newspaper without a solid business plan. The researchers were awed by the formidable challenge a national newspaper would have to overcome. For example, the current presses could not handle consistent color production, new equipment would have to be purchased, press personnel would have to be trained, one thousand tractor-trailer rigs of newsprint would have to be delivered to strategically located print centers, a fail-safe distribution system would have to be established to deliver over one million newspapers each day to 100,000 different locations nationwide. Looking back, Curley explains: "I guess what struck me most at the time was how much work it was going to be and how much sacrifice it would require. Seven years later, I still have those feelings. My god, there is still so much to be done..."

In October 1980 the research team made such a convincing presentation to the board of directors that they received an additional $3.5 million to develop a prototype of USA Today. Al Neuharth would play two trump cards as he bent each board members ear: One was the research finding that over 850,000 people travel on airlines every single day, the other was that 1.75 million people stay in hotels or motels every day. Neuharth's pitch was that scores of traveling, mobile and fairly affluent Americans would be hungry for news from home wherever that might be.

DETAILS SELL

Neuharth's ability to communicate his vision was extraordinary. He paid attention to every single detail. Realizing the importance of a nationwide image, he instructed his team to create a design where mastheads and vending machines look like big TV sets, mounted on pedestals. Their blue and white colors reflect the newspapers' masthead. Neuharth applied his keen instinct for salesmanship in the design of the coin slots. He thought that traditional newspaper vending machines were not designed to stimulate optimum sales since the coin slots were mounted on top. He felt that the price should never be advertised on top of the product. Thanks to Neuharth, the coin slots of all USA Today news racks are positioned to the right of the clearly visible front page.